Fastening device for mail-boxes.



0. H. SMITH, JR.

FASTENING DEVICE FOR MAIL BOXES.

APPucATlou msn 050.26. 1911.

1,197,405. Patendsep. 5,1916.

2 SHEETS*SHEET l.

0. H. SMITH, Jn.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 OLIVER I-I. SMITH, JR., OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

FASTENING DEVICE FOR MAIL-BOXES.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed December 26, 1911. Serial No. 667,868.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, OLIVER H. SMrTH, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at IVashington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fastening Devices for Mail-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the subject of fastening devices of the type that are employed for securing out-of-doors receptacles upon posts or equivalent supports, and which are only intended to be capable of being released by an authorized person. To this end the invention has in view a fastening device which is specially adapted for securing mail boxes to posts .and like supports. In this connection, one of the distinguishing features of the present invention is that of a fastening device specially constructed and adapted to fastena mail box or equivalent receptacle in superimposed position on i top of the capital of a supporting post. In carrying out the modern practice of ornamental effects in municipal improvements, the plan has been proposed of mounting mail boxes upon the tops yor capitals of supporting posts or pillars, so in order to meet this situation particularly, the present invention has been designed, while at the same time preserving all of the elements of eficiency in the locking means, as well as security against tamperingby unauthorized agencies.

`With these and other objects in view, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

Though susceptible to structural modification in performing the functions provided for by the present invention, a preferred and practical embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section, showing a mail box secured upon the top of a supporting post through the medium of the improved fastening device claimed herein. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the fastening devicel in locked condition, and illustrating contiguous parts of the mail box and of the supporting post. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating the two members of the fastening device in unlocked relation, as when the removable coupling member is being slid toward or from the locking position. Figs. 4 and are detail perspective views respectively of the coupling and base members of the fastening device.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention, no change or alteration is required in the mail box nor in the supporting post or equivalent element upon which itis mounted, the only requirement being that the said post or equivalent element, designated by the numeral 1 in the drawings, should be provided with a top portion or capital having a supporting base 2 which is surmounted by the fastening device of the mail box and which is provided with suitable clearance for working parts of the fastening device.

According to the present invention, the improved fastening device is designed to be flatly `interposed between the chambered supporting base 2 and the bottom 3 of the mail box 4f, so that the latter entirely covers and protects the fastening device and renders the same absolutely inaccessible except from the interior of the box by an authorized party. The said fastening device primarily embodies in its organization a base member 5, and a removable coupling member 6, both of which members are preferably in the form of Hat plates bearing a slidable relation to each other and adapted to flatly register, one upon the other.

The fixed base member 5 is the one which preferably carries the locking device, and is adapted to be securely fastened within the chambered support 2 by means of suitable fastenings 7 that are only accessible when the coupling member 6 is removed. The said fixed base member has formed therein a plurality of keeper openings or equivalent keepers 8, preferably four in number, and also has fitted thereto a suitable automatic locking device preferably in the form of a flat locking spring 9 arranged in a clearance opening 10 in the base member and having its free locking end 11 normally sprung above the base member 5 so as to engage within a keeper opening 12 in the coupling member 6, and also adapted to be exposed for manipulation, from the interior of the mail box, through the opera-tors opening 13 which is formed in the bottom 3 of the mail box.

In addition to the keeper opening 12, the

coupling member or plate 6 is provided with a plurality of depending holding projections 15, which are preferably metal tongues struck out of the plate 6 and bent downwardly therefrom so as to stand oblique to a vertical plane. These projections or tongues 15 slant in the direction in which the member 6 is slid over the member 5 to be carried to its locking position, and are adapted to engage in the keepers 8 and underly an edge of such keepers, so that the projections or tongues 15 serve to prevent horizontal or lateral movement of t-he coupling member 6 in three directions and also prevent upward movement or displacement, while horizontal or lateral displacement in the fourth direction is resisted by the engagement of the locking end of the spring against a wall of the keeper opening l2.

The coupling member 6, which serves to couple and fasten the mail boX to its supporting base, is securely fastened to the bottom of the mail boX by means of suitable fastenings 16 that are only accessible whenv the fastening device is separated, or from the interior of the boX.

From the foregoing it will be understood that with the two members 5 and 6 fastened respectively to the supporting element and to the bottom of the mail boX, the locking-on of the mail boX is accomplished by simply sliding the member 6 over the member 5 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 8, until the point is reached when the end 11 of the spring 9 snaps up into the keeper opening 12, at which time the holding pro` jections or tongues 15 will have reached the locking position referred to, and which position is shown in Fig. 2. To unlock the fastening device, the proper person inserts a pencil or equivalent implement through the operators opening 13, depressing the end 11 of the spring out of and below the opening 12, whereupon the member 6 is free to Copries of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the be slid from off of the member 5 in the direction of the other arrow also indicated in Fig. 8.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of thel advantages thereof.

I claim:

1. A mail box support and fastening comprising an upright post provided at its upper end with a horizontal supporting base, the mail receptacle having a bottom adapted to flatly rest upon the supporting base and to combine therewith to form an inclosed recess, and a fastening device adapted to be entirely housed wit-hin said recess and comprising separate members respectively secured to the receptacle and to the base, and having interlocking means adapted to be engaged and disengaged by an oblique movement of the receptacle into and out of position.

2. A mail boX support and fastening, comprising in combination with an upright post provided at the top with a horizontally arranged supporting base and a mail-receptacle arranged over the base, a fastening device housed between the base and the receptacle consisting of two plates, one of which is provided with a plurality of lkeeper openings, and the other of which plates is provided with a plurality of oblique holding projections all inclined in the same direction, and an automatic lock carried by one plate and having a .locking engagement with the other plate.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aliiX my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

OLIVER H. SMITH, JR.

Witnesses:

R. C. BRADDOCK, EMoRY L. GROFF.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

